


Are You Mine?

by tekhartha



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-05
Updated: 2013-11-05
Packaged: 2017-12-31 14:39:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1032856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tekhartha/pseuds/tekhartha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newton listens to way too loud music in the lab and Hermann hasn't slept properly in days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Are You Mine?

Newton is blasting rock music in the lab when Hermann enters it one morning, still tired and having trouble to keep his eyes open. He worked until early in the morning again last night and it turns out that getting only three hours of sleep, six nights in a row, might not have been one of his better ideas. From the outside through the thick metal door the music was barely audible, but as soon as Hermann pushed it open the screaming guitars and the voice of the singer hit him like a giant wave of sound.

He covers his ears immediately and tries to shout at Newton to turn off the music, please and thank you, but the other scientist has his back turned to him and sings along loudly, while he's slicing through a piece of Kaiju. Hermann takes a few moments to adjust to the music, before he takes his hands from his ears and limbs towards Newton to tap him on the shoulder. The icy look Hermann shoots his colleague is enough to make him turn down the music, the smile is still not vanishing from his face though and Hermann is terribly annoyed by that.

 

“Morning, Hermann!” he grins and turns back to his Kaiju parts.

 

“Have I not asked you to listen to your so-called “music” with your headphones on, if you insist on getting distracted by such noise during work?” Hermann asks him as calmly as he can manage.

 

“Yeah.... yeah, you did, but come on! You weren't here, so I figured you wouldn't mind! Also, it's not noise, it's rock music! Really, Hermann, you don't understand how awesome the Arctic Monkeys are!” Newton shakes his head slowly, nudges Hermann softly with his elbow and smiles at him for a second.

 

“You are right, I don't understand.” He gives Newton another annoyed look, before he makes his way over to his side of the lab. The music is still playing, although only very quietly, but Hermann decides not to mention it yet. He sits down on his desk and rubs his eyes, he's way too tired to work. It's not like he has much of a choice though, so he pulls out a pen and starts to write out a rough draft of his next report to Marshal Pentecoast.

After half an hour he's done, not just with the draft but also with being awake. He puts the pen down and lays his forehead on the desk. It feels nice, the cool metal makes the dull ache of his head almost disappear for some time. He thinks that he should try to go to bed earlier today, which is of course a waste because his brain seems to work best late at night, but what good is that, if he can't work at all for the rest of the day? He sighs, turning his head to the side, so he's now staring at the massive blackboard. The chaotic calculations, that usually motivate him to work only make him feel dizzy today.

 

“Hermann?” Newton's voice comes from the other side of the room. “Are you okay?”

 

Hermann slowly lifts his head and briefly closes his eyes, because suddenly the room seems too bright to bear. When he opens them again, he sees Newton standing on the other side of the desk, looking at him with a worried expression.

 

“Yes. Yes, I am just tired and resulting from that I have a quite nasty headache.” He dismissively gestures with his hand. “But don't worry, I'm all right.”

 

Newton looks all but convinced, quite on the contrary. He shuffles over to a cabinet and starts searching for something, when he finds it, he grabs a glass and fills it with water from the tab.

 

“Here, these should help. I'm gonna get coffee too, I'll be right back.” Within seconds he's out of the door, before Hermann has time to protest and tell him to go back to work.

He sighs again and eyes the little white pills and the water suspiciously. The pulsing inside of his head intensifies, so he grabs the pills and swallows them. He sits in silence for a few minutes, eyes closed and concentrating on his breathing. The music is still faintly playing in the background, but Hermann doesn't mind too much. He's mad at himself, because thanks to his selfish behaviour not only he himself is unable to work, but Newton too. He's definitely going to bed earlier today.

Footsteps are approaching and Hermann opens his eyes just in time to see Newton push open the door and walk over to the desk to put down a big, steaming cup of coffee in front of Hermann. With lots of sugar and milk, just how he likes it.

 

“Here you go.” Newton stalks around the desk, own cup in his hands, over to the empty chair next to Hermann.

 

“Thank you, Newton, but you should go back to work. I'll be fine.”

 

“No, no, no. I'm gonna wait until you feel better, because, dude, you look like you're about to pass out or something. You are even paler than usually.” Newton chuckles and sips his coffee.

 

Hermann isn't able to argue with that, his brain simply doesn't seem to function, so he just nods and closes his eyes again. Only for a moment though, because suddenly his head is spinning and he feels dizzy. Panicking he grabs Newton's arm, who puts his cup down hurriedly.

 

“Hermann? Hermann??” Is the last thing he hears, before everything goes black.

 

~~~~

 

Everything is blurry when he opens his eyes, there's a regular beeping sound somewhere close and he can hear people talk in muffled voices. He stirs, tries to open his eyes properly and the people fall silent. Only seconds later, Hermann feels a hand on his arm.

 

“Hermann? Its okay, you're at the medical bay.” The worry in Newton's voice makes Hermann swallow, he's never heard him talk as gently as now. Hermann slowly turns his head to look at the other man, his vision slowly turning less blurry.

 

“Newton.” he says, he isn't sure what else to say, when he sees the worried expression of his friend. He almost looks scared and Hermann feels terrible for putting that expression on Newton's face. “I'm sorry.... what happened?”

 

“You passed out. Man, I was just joking about that, you don't have to do everything I say.” he grins, but Hermann can still see the shock on his face. “The doctor says, you didn't sleep enough... what were you doing, Herm?”

 

“Working...” Hermann can feel himself blushing, it's all his fault. “I'm so sorry, I-”

 

“No. No, it's okay, don't worry about it. But promise me you'll be more careful and take better care of yourself, okay?” When Hermann nods, Newton continues. “I never thought that _I_ 'd say that to _you_! I always thought it would be the other way round...” he laughs and takes Hermann's hand into his. “Oh, come on now! Stop it with that face, you look like I just told you, that your puppy is dead or something.”

 

“I don't have a puppy, Newton.” Hermann says, but can't help the little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “... thanks.” he mumbles before he turns away, because he seriously can't hide his blush any more.

 

~~~~

 

Two weeks later, Hermann enters the lab in the morning just to find Newton listening to rock music again. He sighs and is thankful that it's not quite as loud as last time. His colleague is fishing in a container with Kaiju guts, wiggling his hips to the music and only turns around when he hears the sound of Hermann's cane on the ground. Newton flashes him a smile and takes off his gloves to turn down the volume.

 

“Morning! Ahh, sorry about that...” he gestures to the speaker, which is attached to his iPod. Hermann only shakes his head and smiles.

 

“It's all right.” he says and turns around to hide a grin, when he sees Newton's puzzled expression. The man looks like he just saw a ghost, which is of course scientifically impossible.

 

“I-.. D-Did you just say that it's all right, that I listen to music? In the lab? While you're here?” Hermann can hear that he's completely stunned, but he still doesn't turn around, not even when he answers.

 

“Yes. As long as you don't turn it up too loud and turn it off completely if I ask you to.” He pretends to be busy cleaning parts of the blackboard, still grinning. He doesn't hear Newton approach, not until Hermann feels two arms slinging around his body, squeezing him tightly.

Hermann's world crumbles into pieces instantly. His heart is beating fast, so fast, Newtons face is buried in his neck, his hot breath making his hairs stand up. Newton is warm and soft and it takes Hermann a while, before his mouth isn't quite as dry any more and he feels like he might be able to speak again.

 

“Newton?” No answer. “Newt?” Still no answer. Slowly Hermann tries to turn around, without having to free himself from Newton's grip. When he finally faces him, Newton isn't smiling like he expected him to. His expression is one of confusion, fondness and something else, something Hermann can't quite pinpoint. They just stare at each other for what feels like hours, until Newton finally lets go.

 

“Sorry. Erm, thank you, Herm... I- that's really nice of you.” he smiles but Hermann sees that it's not a genuine smile, so when he tries to move away Hermann grips his wrist.

 

“Are... Are you all right, Newton?” Newton just looks away. “Talk to me... please.” Hermann squeezes his wrist slightly.

 

“I'm sorry.” Newton frees himself from Hermann's grip, walks back to his Kaiju guts and doesn't look at Hermann again for the next three days.

 

~~~~

 

Hermann lays in bed that night, thinking about Newton, about his smile and about how stupid that man is and how warm. He wishes Newton were here right now, because he's terribly cold and lonely too. For Christ's sake, since when has he been thinking about Newton this way? It feels so silly, but it doesn't feel wrong either, no, not at all. He feels fuzzy and no, that's in no way acceptable. It can't be, it just can't be that he actually fell in love with his lab partner slash colleague slash best friend. But somehow it still happened.

 

~~~~

 

They haven't touched in three days. They haven't talked. Newton hasn't looked at Hermann in three days and it's killing him. At this point they only co-exist without communicating and while Hermann would have loved the whole not-having-to-listen-to-Newton's-weird-thoughts-about-Kaiju thing and actually not having to socialise with Newton at all, just a few weeks ago, he hates it now. He wants Newton to talk to him, to touch him, to get coffee for both of them and leave little sticky notes all over his desk.

Sometimes Hermann wonders, what exactly is wrong with his brain. Why had it all of a sudden decided to like, even love Newton, when it despised him so much before? But there was no answer for that question, no matter how hard Hermann looked, so he just gave up.

 

It's four AM and Hermann just can't fall asleep, he's so tired, but his leg hurts and everything on his mind is Newton, _Newton_ , NEWTON. He decides to get up, take a little walk, maybe he'll be able to fall asleep when he gets back. He pulls his dressing gown out of the closet and puts it on. It's always cold in the Shatterdome, but at night it seems even colder than usually and he doesn't want to risk catching a cold.

Picking up his cane, he walks towards the door. When he steps outside, the corridor is cold and empty, it lays almost in complete darkness and Hermann is relieved to find himself the only person outside at this hour. For both, his own an everyone else's sake. He stares at the door across from his for a moment, knowing that behind it Newton is sleeping and hopefully having sweet dreams of Kaiju or whatever groupies like him dream about.

Hermann decides to go down to the mess hall just to grab a bottle of water and maybe a snack. Despite the fact that his leg still hurts, he takes the stairs and regrets it almost immediately. The pain is is leg wasn't this bad in at least a year and Hermann curses under his breath while walking.

 

“Verdammter Mist! Warum gerade jetzt? Immer genau dann, wenn man es am wenigsten gebrauchen kann... ich hätte einfach eine Tablette nehmen sollen. Einen Spaziergang machen, ja, wirklich eine großartige Idee, Hermann, unglaublich gut... Das ist alles nur Newton's Schuld.”

 

When he finally reaches the bottom of the staircase, the pain in his leg is excruciating and he has to stop for a second to catch his breath. He really should have taken the elevator instead.

Limping down the corridor, he suddenly hears faint music coming from the mess hall. He stops dead in his tracks and listens. Just like he thought, it's that terrible band Newton always listens to. Hermann creeps forward, as silently as possible and carefully takes a look around the corner. There's Newton sitting at one of the tables, in his pyjama pants and t-shirt, the iPod and speaker in front of him. He just sits there and stares, but Hermann can't see his face from where he stands. He waits for a few more seconds, before he decides to just walk into the room and address the other man. He isn't sure if that's really a good idea and if Newton is even willing to talk to him, but he just can't stop himself.

Newton surely hears the sound of his cane, when he comes closer, he doesn't react though. He just keeps on staring at nothing.

 

“Newton?” Hermann asks carefully as he reaches him. Newton stops staring and looks down at his hands, that are laying on the table. None of them speaks for a while, it seems like they just don't know what to say.

 

“I'm sorry, Hermann. I completely ignored you, that wasn't fair. I-... erm, it's just that I was confused, because suddenly there were all of these weird feeli- ... You probably hate me now, don't you?” Newton still isn't looking at him and Hermann still doesn't know what to say. “I thought so... but that's okay, I understand. I'm just that annoying Kaiju groupie, you're forced to share a lab with. I always listen to music you don't like, talk about thinks that you don't care about and I'm not even a real scientist.” He laughs dryly. “But, you know what, I don't have anything to lose any more, do I? The world is ending and you hate me already, so here it goes:” Finally he turns around and looks at Hermann. “I think, I'm in love with you, Hermann.”

 

For a moment it's chaos in Hermann's head. Everything is spinning and nothing makes sense. It can't be, it's not possible, he must have misheard what Newton said, it just _impossible_. Then all of a sudden everything is clear. It feels like a new day is starting, a cool summer's morning and the sun is rising in this moment.

Newton is standing in front of him now and Hermann is speechless because Newton Geiszler loves him and he loves Newton Geiszler. His cane is falling to the ground as he leaps forward to take Newton's pretty face in both of his hands. He holds on for a second to mumble a “You are an idiot, Newt.” against Newton's mouth and commences to kiss the confused expression off his friends face. It obviously takes him a few seconds to realise what's happening, but when Newton finally wraps his arms around Hermann's waist and drags him closer, Hermann can feel the smile against his lips. They draw away to get some air back into their lungs, but don't let go of each other.

Hermann can't stop smiling and puts his forehead against Newton's.

 

“Just to clarify: I think, I'm in love with you too, Newt.” he smiles and presses another soft kiss to Newton's lips, who chuckles.

 

“Yeah, I figured.” he lets go of Hermann to pick up the cane. “Let's go to bed, I'm tired... and happy.” Taking Hermann's hand and intertwining their fingers, he hands the cane over.

 

“Yes, that sounds like a good idea.”

 

~~~~~

 

Hermann wakes up alone and his first thought is _Was it only a dream?_ , but when he notices the little wet spots on his pillow, he knows that a certain drooling scientist must have been here not too long ago. He smiles to himself and gets out of bed, just to find a little sticky note on his blackboard to confirm his guess.

He picks it up and reads, still smiling.

 

_Heya, Herm!_

_I went down to the lab already, but I didn't want to wake you up!_

_Kisses, Newt ♥_

 

It's terribly cheesy and Hermann almost laughs out loud, but it's actually also adorable. He puts the note back on the blackboard and gets ready to head down to the lab too.

No matter how hard he tries, he can't stop smiling and the other people on the elevator give him weird looks, because _what's going on with that guy?._ He couldn't care less though and when he's getting closer to his destination, his footsteps quicken until he's almost running. As fast as a person with a cane and a bad leg can run, that is.

Panting, he stands in front of the metal door and closes his eyes for a minute, just to stop his heart from jumping out of his chest.

Newton's music is as loud as always and Hermann kind of _likes_ it, he creeps up behind Newton and plants kisses along his neck. Newton jumps and starts laughing.

 

“Hermann! Don't scare me like that!” he turns around and kisses him, it's a sweet, short kiss and it's more than perfect. The music is still loud and Newton reaches to turn it down, Hermann is faster though and catches his wrist in mid-air.

 

“Leave it. I told you, it's fine.”

Newton smiles brighter than ever and starts to sing along, while dancing with one hand still holding onto Hermann's.

 

“So in case I'm mistaken,  
I just wanna hear you say you got me baby  
Are you mine?“

 

And later when they are laying next to each other in Newton's bed, just holding onto each other, Hermann whispers into Newton's ear.

 

“I am yours, love, I am yours.”

**Author's Note:**

> The translation for Hermann's cursing is roughly this:  
> “Sod it! Why now of all times? Always during the worst of times... I should have just taken some painkillers. Taking a walk, yes, an amazing idea, Hermann, unbelievably great... this is all Newton's fault.” (translating is hard haha)  
> The title and the lyrics are taken from "R U Mine?" by Arctic Monkeys~  
> I hope you enjoyed it & I didn't make any grave mistakes...


End file.
